Uncovered Massacre
by Lucy Labrador
Summary: What if Shadow's memory was made up of lies and what would happen if the truth were to be uncovered? Sonic decides to help Shadow with his new problem which leads to the uncovering of a possible massacre. * * Rated T for swearing and violence. One-Shot.


**Uncovered Massacre**

During his early days on the ARK, Shadow felt a strong love and compassion for his best friend, Maria. She was more than a friend to him, she was like a surrogate mother; a guardian angel. She was perfect. He couldn't understand why she was doing this to him.

Shadow trusted her with all of his heart mind and soul so when she had told him to get into the dark and empty room at the end of the hall, the room that they had been told not to go in, he did it.

It started when Maria was walking down one of the corridors and Shadow walked up behind her. "Good morning Maria. What are we going to do today?" Shadow asked innocently and began to walk at her side and looked up to her. She had gotten taller, no longer a child; nearly an adult.

"Shadow… you're beginning to annoy me. You haven't even asked if I have plans today, how do you know if I'm busy or not?" she sounded frustrated. Shadow was silent. "Exactly, so if you don't mind, I have things to do."

"May I come with you?" the hedgehog persistently followed.

"No!" Shadow was left behind, he stood feeling disappointed as his companion; his best friend, left him on his own.

Later on that day Maria came back to Shadow to speak to him, "Shadow, you do understand that I will have to leave soon and start a life of my own," Maria said sympathetically. Shadow nodded.

"I can't wait Maria, we'll be able to explore the Earth together, just like we talked about," Shadow spoke softly.

"Shadow, when I say a life of my own, that means… without you," she hesitated. Shadow's face expression went from amiable to confused.

"But… I thought we were going to stick together; I thought you needed me," the hedgehog was puzzled, and persistent. Shadow shook his head. "I refuse to leave you on your own Maria, I have a duty to protect you."

"Shadow… follow me, I need to explain a few things to you," Maria said solemnly and led him to the room at the end of the corridor and coaxed him inside. Shadow looked around feeling uneasy, there was little light to see and he had been told by Gerald not to go into rooms he knew nothing about. "Shadow, you need to listen to me," she said clearly, as though she was trying to explain something to a young child. "I'm all better now, so I no longer need you."

"That doesn't matter. It means we can live together now, with no worries, like we wanted," Shadow said feeling uneasy. "What are you suggesting?"

"I'm suggesting that you get out of my life, Shadow. I'm nearly and adult now, I'm not that twelve year old girl you loved anymore, I've grown up and I've changed, I'm ready to go to earth now and get a life," Maria was beginning to lose her temper. "You need to stay out of my way, no one will like me if I have a stupid hedgehog following me around like a lost puppy."

"Maria!" Shadow yelled. "What are you on about, how could you say something like that!" he gritted his teeth. "You promised me we'd stay together, we promised each other!"

"Well, the promise is off. Are you going to leave me alone?" she asked, her voice beginning to tremble. Shadow narrowed his eyes.

"Never. I promised I would stay by your side and protect you forever, you can drop your part of the promise but I'm not dropping mine," he growled.

"I had a feeling that this would happen, that you wouldn't just drop it." Shadow could hear her frustration and anger, he didn't know how she had grown from a sweet little girl to a young woman who no longer wanted him. Shadow then saw something glint in a tiny amount of light there was in the room, Maria had gotten something out of her pocket. "I'm… sorry."

Shadow's eyes widened when he realised what it was, he tried to duck down and dodge before it was too late.

BANG

Shadow fell to the floor in agony, the bullet had gone into his chest. "You're just like the rest of those humans," Shadow choked in pain. "no different… not like I thought, you want me dead like the all of them do!" he cried out.

"Quiet Shadow please, you don't understand… if anyone finds out about this..." She began to sob. Then the door opened, light flooded into the room, Shadow looked at the damage that had been done on his chest.

"Maria… why would you do this?" Shadow rasped. "I love you… and you try to kill me," he groaned. "You're heartless… cruel and just plain ignorant… I'm Immortal."

"I-I just wanted you to leave me alone," she trembled, tears were falling from her eyes.

"Maria, come with me," came the voice of the man at the door, Shadow looked up when he heard the familiar voice of his creator.

"Professor," Shadow rasped and put out his hand, he desperately wanted help. "H-hurts so much…"

"Don't worry Shadow, I'll be back for you in a minute to remove the bullet," Gerald sighed, he knew there was no rush because of Shadow's immortality.

"N-no… not the bullet… it just… hurts," Shadow rasped, tears began falling from his eyes. Gerald looked at Shadow with sympathy and took Maria away, possibly to be secured and dealt with.

"_**SHADOW!" **_

The dark hedgehog's eyes shot open to see Sonic looking annoyed. "Shadow! Wake up!"

"I am awake!" Shadow growled as his eyes became half closed again. "And I have a headache."

"You should sort out this alcohol problem of yours," Sonic said while nudging the empty glass bottles around with his foot. They were surrounding the dark hedgehog who had fallen asleep under a tree. "You've been drinking the pain away again, haven't you?" Sonic asked and held out a hand to help Shadow up.

"Hmm… yeah… dwelling over Maria's death. Speaking of her I had this… absurd dream last night," Shadow mumbled while putting his hand on his head and gained his balance, he looked as though he was in a hung-over state.

"Yeah… probably something to do with the alcohol," Sonic said looking at all of the bottles on the floor. "I'm going to get you home and to a bathroom, seeing as you drank so much." Sonic began to lead Shadow down the hill of the untamed field they were in.

"No… I'm fine Sonic… don't need it," he mumbled. "Leave me alone…" Shadow groaned and put his hands to his head in pain.

"No way Shadow, knowing you, you're saying you're fine now but all of a sudden you'll be ready to explode," Sonic said and pushed the irritable hedgehog along to get him to walk towards his home.

Meanwhile, Tails was at his and Sonic's house making himself some breakfast when he heard the door open. "Quick- quick… you know where the bathroom is just go!" he heard Sonic yell urgently he then heard the front door close and saw Sonic walk into the room with a sigh.

"Umm, what was that?" Tails asked.

"Shadow…" Sonic sighed. "That was to do with his drinking problem."

There was a moment of silence. "Oh, here he is now," Sonic said as Shadow walked into the kitchen with blood shot eyes.

"Sonic… do you have anything for curing hangovers…" Shadow groaned, his voice was slightly raspy and he sounded groggy.

"Yes," Sonic said smugly, Shadow looked relieved. "Don't drink in the first place."

"Seriously Faker, no joking now, I need something to get rid of this headache. Do you have anything?" Shadow snapped as Sonic smirked.

"Well… umm, no."

"Fuck you," Shadow growled and went to lie down on the living room sofa.

"Sonic, I'm worried about having him here if he's that annoyed," Tails said, feeling uneasy.

"Don't worry. I'll keep an eye on him," Sonic said and sat down at the table with him.

Meanwhile, Shadow was feeling miserable and nauseous while laying on the sofa, his head resting on the arm rest, looking at the ceiling of Sonic's living room. He kept movement to a minimal to reduce his head pain and vertigo. "That… dream," he pondered, mumbling his words while looking at the ceiling. His voice was raspy because of the pain he was in. "I wonder… if it… meant something."

"So Shadow! How are you feeling?" Sonic came in sounding cheery.

"Not so good thanks to you," Shadow grumbled. "Keep your voice down…" he put his hands on his head in pain.

"Oh yeah, sorry," Sonic whispered and walked in front of the sofa to take a look at the nauseated hedgehog. "Why are you doing this to yourself Shadow? You're better than this."

"I know… I… just wanted the pain to go away so I used alcohol to numb it and help me sleep. Maybe I should just sleep through this pain too…" he rasped while looking at the ceiling, he then looked to the blue hedgehog. "Sonic… do you think I problems?"

"Yeah! Duh!" Sonic teased while making a gesture, he performed the action of drinking with his hands and grinned. Shadow gave him the death glare. Sonic sighed. "No Shadow… I think you have an emotional problem," he said softly.

"Thank you for telling me something I've known all along Sonic," Shadow retorted sarcastically.

"If you've known this all along Shadow, what haven't you sorted it out?" Sonic asked caringly. Shadow was speechless. "I need to help you. You can talk to me… I can be your therapist for the day."

Sonic sat down on the floor looking in front of Shadow, looking smug. "Fine. You can start by listening to me about this dream I had… I can't get it out of my mind," Shadow began sounding perplexed. "It reminded me of when I had amnesia… it was like some kind of recovered memory." Then he began to tell Sonic about what happened in the dream.

"Hmm… that's really strange. Why would you dream something like that Shadow? Maria's dead, she didn't live until she was old like that," Sonic said sounding confused once Shadow had told the whole story in detail.

"I don't know… you're the therapist, I though you were supposed to know the answers," Shadow growled.

"But I don't know the answers, so I'm asking you," Shadow face palmed at Sonic's uselessness.

"This is useless," the dark hedgehog sighed and got up. "Thanks Sonic but I think I'm ready to go home now."

"I don't think you are. This dream is obviously bothering you." Sonic said with concern and got up too. "You should stay here." Shadow gave a fed up look and sat down again.

"What what good will it do me by staying here?" he asked.

"More good than staying at home alone!" Sonic exclaimed. "What if you were get all depressed again and go and binge on alcohol again? Or have that dream again and wake up feeling traumatised."

"I've woken up many times on my own Sonic," Shadow sighed and looked at the floor.

"Well, you don't have to this time," Sonic said sincerely and put his hand on Shadow's shoulder.

"But, there's something I need to go and do for a while," Shadow said and got up again.

"Shall I come with you?" Sonic asked. Shadow sighed and nodded reluctantly.

"We're going to the ARK," he said firmly. Sonic began to feel uneasy, remembering all of the trouble he had gotten into when he had gone to the ARK before. "Maybe… there will be some information about that dream there… maybe there's something I don't know about Maria that they," he swallowed hard. "erased from my memory or something."

"Okay then Shadow. Let's go," Sonic said and grabbed onto Shadow's arm as the dark hedgehog did chaos control.

They were now in the observation room of Space Colony ARK, it overlooked the Earth "Coming back here makes me feel… I can't even explain it."

"It reminds you of back then… this is like returning to your childhood home," Sonic said sympathetically. Shadow then walked out of the door and down the long corridor with Sonic following from behind.

The two of them entered the lab that Shadow was created in. "Woah… and I suppose this is like walking into the place you were born in… doesn't give you any memories but does make you feel uncomfortable," Sonic shivered. "Did you have all of these wires and tubes and the goo all over you when you were born?"

"I… don't remember that day that well," Shadow hesitated, he was lying, he remembered everything about the day he was born but didn't want to say.

"Aww… would have been cool to hear how you were born," Sonic said, standing by the door while Shadow was walking around the room and looking in the draws for files and on the computers for information.

"There must be a part of Gerald's diary that he didn't want me to find." Shadow was looking through the draws. He gasped. "This is it!" he yelled, it was a floppy disk which he inserted into the old computer at the side of the room. "Come on…" Shadow said with his fingers crossed as it booted up.

There were a few minutes of silence and waiting. Shadow finally managed to use the floppy disk. "YES-" he leant forward with wide eyes and exclaimed, "NO!"

"What's up?" Sonic asked and came to look at the computer.

"It… nearly let me in but… it needs a password…" Shadow growled. He began typing in various words and trying them, but nothing worked, after about ten attempts he was locked out of the system. He gave a roar of fury and frustration. "FUCK YOU!" he yelled at the screen, Sonic got a hold of him and pulled him back before he attacked the machine.

"Shadow, calm down. We'll get into it," Sonic said when he had pulled him back a safe distance. "But we won't if you destroy it. If only we had Tails here, he would know how to hack it."

Shadow looked as if the greatest idea had just come into his head.

Two teleportation's later, they were standing in the same room with Tails and he was hacking into the files. "I did it," Tails said sounding proud. Shadow pushed him out of the way and began to read what it said.

Sonic and Tails watched as Shadow scanned through all of the information. "Shadow!" Sonic yelled and ran over to him, Shadow was fainting and falling backwards, Sonic caught him before the dark hedgehog hit the floor. "There must be some serious stuff in there!" Sonic exclaimed. He put Shadow at the side of the room, sitting with his back leaning against the wall.

Sonic and Tails went to read what it said. "WOAH! Shadow was right!" Sonic said once he had read it. "That dream he had was an uncovered memory… Gerald changed his memory and sent him to GUN to be put into stasis… for his own good," he said breathlessly. "Poor guy. This means the girl Shadow loved so much tried to kill him… so he nearly died from the emotional pain. That must have been _some_ heartbreak."

"Afterwards everyone was either killed or locked away so that Shadow… would never find out when he was released for use," Tails added. "What Gerald planned was a success, everyone knows the story that Gerald made… and Shadow hasn't died."

"Woah, how selfish is that? Killing off and imprisoning all of those people just so one creation lives!" Sonic exclaimed. "Even though Shadow is our friend… I disagree with what he did."

"Sonic… I can't help but think that there would be more to Shadow's death than just… simply dying," Tails said sounding uneasy. "What if he has kind of self destruct defence… something so powerful it could destroy the whole planet."

"Wouldn't it say so in this diary?" Sonic asked, pointing to the screen.

"Maybe it's so horrible that Gerald didn't mention it anywhere… he didn't want anyone to know about it, because it's that bad!" Tails was becoming panicked.

"HOLY SHIT! That's why no one at GUN just killed him off and froze him instead," Sonic was also in a panic. "And now this memory is back… what do we do!?"

"I don't know… maybe the best thing would be to put him back in stasis…" Tails said worriedly and turned to the unconscious Shadow.

"Sounds like a good option but he's our friend, we can't just do that to him," Sonic shamefully. "Let's get him out of here, in case he wakes up and something happens." They both walked over to Shadow and picked him up.

With a joint effort of carrying him, the two of them brought Shadow back to the observation room where they had started off. "Maybe," Sonic said while slightly shaking. "Gerald also put some kind of defence in him that will make him pass out if he finds out about what happened… and when he wakes up he won't remember a thing."

"So… when he wakes up… and he asked why we're here we lie to him," Tails contributed to the plan. "We tell him that… he took us here to see Earth."

"Yes, he'll believe that, he's done it before on his own, so why wouldn't he bring a friend today?" Sonic said with a smile, he gave Tails a thumbs up. "Oh… what if he asks why he's passed out?" Sonic asked in realisation.

"He used to much chaos energy," Tails said quickly. "And passed out because he was too tired."

"Oh crap! What if he comes back here one day and finds the disk in the computer!" Sonic exclaimed.

"Destroy it!" Tails answered, Sonic shot off down the hall to retrieve and destroy all evidence the floppy disk's existence.

After much thought and preparation, Sonic and Tails sat down by Shadow's unconscious body and waited for him to wake up. "Aww, how much longer do you think he'll be?" Sonic groaned, becoming impatient. "He could be like this for ages."

"Yeah, Shadow has done this before, and not woken up for days," Tails sighed.

"I wish he would hurry up. I'm dying to pee. I wanna go home already," the blue hedgehog grumbled and folded his arms impatiently.

"Huh?" Shadow's weak voice came, he was waking up. "W-why are we here? What's going on?" he looked at the two of them with a blurry eye site.

"You brought us here to see the Earth from up here," Sonic explained. "But since you used up too much chaos energy, you fell unconscious." Shadow got up and looked over the earth. "Hmm… I don't remember anything… why I even chose to spend time with you two?" he groaned. "What day is it?"

"Friday," Sonic answered.

"I thought it was Wednesday… I was either passed out for that long or my memory of the past couple of days is just gone."

"You lost your memory. You weren't asleep that long," Sonic explained.

The three of them got up. "I… feel okay for another trip," Shadow began. "but I think we should leave it about half an hour before I take you home… just to be sure."

"NO!" Sonic exclaimed. Shadow looked at Sonic with shock and confusion. "I-I mean… I'm sure you can make it home, now."

"Fine," Shadow sighed irritably. Sonic and Tails grabbed onto Shadow's arm. "Chaos Control!"

They were back at Sonic and Tails' home. "There, I brought you back, happy now?" Shadow snapped. Sonic nodded and silently walked down the hall and into the bathroom. Shadow sighed. "Couldn't he have waited? I took a big risk there."

Tails sweat-dropped, Shadow had forgotten what he had done that very morning. "Tell Faker I'm off home, when he comes out," Shadow said to Tails and left.

When Sonic came out, he went into the kitchen to see his fox friend sitting at the table alone. "Shadow went home," Tails sighed.

"Oh, shame," Sonic said and sat down with his best friend.

Meanwhile Shadow was walking alone, slowly, thinking to himself. "I… wonder what happened during those days," he pondered aloud, saying it under his breath. "Hmm… nothing unusual I suppose," Shadow shrugged and finished his journey home.

**Thank you to Lord Kelvin for giving me so many tips on how to improve this, it's looking a lot better now. **

**Lucy Labrador**


End file.
